|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2022
DEED Releases 2022 Statewide Assessment Results
Results Reinforce Urgency in Addressing Poor Performance in Reading and Math
JUNEAU – Today the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development released results for AK STAR and the Alaska Science Assessment at the statewide, district, school and subgroup levels. Each district has until December 9 to distribute student-level reports to families and educators.
Students in grades 3-9 take AK STAR to gauge their understanding of English language arts and math. Statewide, 70% of students assessed were not proficient in English language arts (ELA) and 77% percent of students assessed were not proficient in math.
The Alaska Science Assessment measures learning for students in grades 5, 8, and 10. Statewide, 62% of students assessed were not proficient.
The statewide participation rate for AK STAR was just under 80%. There is a significant disparity between the participation rate of correspondence schools and non-correspondence schools. For ELA, the participation rate for non-correspondence was nearly 93%. For correspondence schools, the participation rate was just under 15%. Although correspondence school enrollment has declined since its peak during the 2020-2021 school year, there are still nearly 22,000 students enrolled in public correspondence schools in Alaska. Given the significant number of correspondence students and the significantly low participation rate of that student group, statewide results do not represent all students in Alaska.
"The COVID-19 pandemic certainly disrupted the typical learning experience for students in Alaska and these results are unacceptable. However, the truth is that Alaska's results were unacceptable before the pandemic," DEED Acting Commissioner Heidi Teshner said. "The good news is that these results are not a surprise, and we are already underway implementing a strategic plan guided by Alaska's Education Challenge that will address the areas of improvement that these results highlight."
This year was the first administration of the AK STAR assessment, which replaced PEAKS. Both assessments are based on the Alaska English language arts and Mathematics Standards, which define what students should know and be able to do. However, results from the two tests cannot be directly compared without caveat. This is due to inherent difference in the test's design, as well as different cut scores. Cut scores are like a grading scale for assessments. Instead of a letter grade based on a score from 0-100, assessments use cut scores to determine what range of scores fall into achievement levels.
###
The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development provides information, resources, and leadership to support over 130,000 students in 505 public schools across the state of Alaska. The mission of the department is to ensure an “Excellent Education for Every Student Every Day.”
Media Contact: Grant Robinson, Public Information Officer, (907) 500-4983
|
